Dan Calabrese Interviews Akash Gupta, Co-Founder and CEO at GreyOrange

As Chief Executive Officer, Akash Gupta leads GreyOrange’s strategic direction globally and is central to the company’s culture of innovation. His primary focus is driving research and development and attracting the brightest talent globally as the company uniquely blends Artificial Intelligence, software design, robotics, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and data science to transform fulfillment for companies worldwide.

While still a student at Birla Institute of Tech and Science, a top-5 college in India, Akash teamed up with fellow student Samay Kohli to begin winning global robotic competitions and the success led them to found GreyOrange. He proceeded to build an R&D engine able to unite multiple software and robotic technologies to transform the fulfillment operations of companies around the world. Akash has led mentoring sessions and workshops at more than 25 educational institutions globally, including Stanford University, Louisiana University, MIT, IITs, and IIIT. Akash was named to MIT Technology Review’s global list of “35 Innovators under 35,” has designed and implemented an active underwater Sonar Stabilization System at the University of Louisiana and served on the Chief Organizing Committee of RoboCup 2011-2012.

Connect with Akash on LinkedIn

Dan Calabrese has been a professional writer since 1984, a business writer since 1992 and a writer for trucking/supply chain/logistics since 2006 – when he joined Transport Topics as a contributing writer. Since then he has also written for Inbound Logistics, Inside Supply Management and a variety of state trucking magazines. Dan also owns and operates North Star Marketing Content, and assists clients such as the National Motor Freight Traffic Association as well as carriers, 3PLs and tech providers to the industry. He is based in the Detroit area.

Connect with Dan on LinkedIn

Interview questions:

Q1. You announced in 2022 your commitment to being robot/hardware-agnostic, meaning the really important thing is the software – although you do continue to develop robots. How has that decision impacted your market and your customers to date?

Q2. What are the most important advances right now in warehouse automation, and what do warehouse operators need to understand about how to utilize and optimize them?

Q3. We do a lot of work here on the topic of cybersecurity, and we know there are hackers who can directly attack assets – anything from a truck to a forklift. What do you want the market to know about how GreyOrange is securing both its systems and the assets that are connected to it?

Q4. You recently raised $135 million in growth financing. Congratulations on such a successful funding round. Clearly the investor community saw something that told them they would be part of a growing enterprise. What exactly was that?

Q5. There’s this question of automating the automation, which I think means deploying more sophisticated systems so the robots are achieving more efficiencies and greater accuracy. GreyOrange has always been at the forefront of that kind of thinking. So how do you automate the automation without losing the warehouse operator’s sense of what the operation needs?

Q6. As fulfillment takes on more of an omnichannel character, how are you making sure the software behind the automation is keeping up with that trend?

Q7. Switching gears slightly – let’s talk fulfillment from the retail said for the last few minutes of our interview.

Q8. I understand GreyOrange recently released news about your innovative end-to-end store execution and omnichannel retail management solution, gStore. So, the solution uses real-time data from RFID overhead systems to provide retailers with 99% inventory accuracy and location precision within three to five feet. No other vendor has been successful in achieving this high level of accuracy, so give us a bit more detail about gStore AND what does the new standard of inventory accuracy that GreyOrange set mean for the retail industry?

GreyOrange Inc. is at the forefront of AI-driven robotics systems, transforming distribution and fulfillment centers worldwide. Its emphasis on orchestration, innovation, and customer satisfaction marks a new era in efficient, responsive supply chain solutions. The company’s solutions offer a competitive advantage by increasing productivity, empowering growth and scale, mitigating labor challenges, reducing risk and time to market, and creating better experiences for customers and employees. Founded in 2012, GreyOrange is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with offices and partners across the Americas, Europe, and Asia. For more information, visit www.greyorange.com.